After walking around Little India and checking out Tekka Market and Mustafa Centre (where you can buy just about anything you can think of, 24 hours a day), our friend Mandy took us to lunch at Azmi Chapati on the corner of Serangoon and Norris Roads.

We grabbed a clean but crooked table next to the street, parked our bums on plastic stools and ordered chapati for three with chicken curry, daal and mutton keema (mutton mince curry).

Chapati is an unleavened flatbread. If you’ve never tried it before, the chewy, gritty texture of a wholewheat chapati provides a different bread experience to its more famous fluffy and flaky cousin roti prata.

The Muslim Indian uncles who cook Azmi chapati to order and serve the food are stern masters of their craft. Everything is served in disposable dishes, even the curries, but you can’t complain about the price: 80 Singaporean cents per chapati, $3.20 for mutton keema, $4.00 for chicken curry and $1.20 for daal. The plate of sliced cucumber, red onion and lime was free. You get metal cutlery, but as with any bread, fingers are much better for tearing, gravy dipping, scooping and mopping up. Remember my tip to BYO napkins in Singapore? You’ll appreciate wet wipes here.

Chapati can taste bland on its own, but the curries add bold flavour, spice and heat – the mutton keema was a real firecracker.

Personal update

I’ve been extra busy this week getting our new kitten settled in. His name is Elvis and he’s a 13-week-old cream Burmese. We’re keeping him separated from his big sisters Pixel and Truffle initially – it will take a little while for the girls to accept him. When we introduced Truffle to Pixel, it took a few weeks before they could be left unsupervised in the same room. You can get updates and see pictures of Elvis, Pixel and Truffle by following TFP cats on Facebook and/or @TFPcats on Instagram.

I’ll be returning to work next Wednesday 28 January after my 7-month break. Yep, that’ll suck. But I’ve got to pay the bills and save up for my trips and toys somehow, right?